


Ten Moments

by misura



Category: Fire's Stone - Tanya Huff
Genre: Ficlet Collection, Multi, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-26
Updated: 2008-10-26
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:58:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1635218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten moments in the lives of Darvish, Aaron and Chandra.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Moments

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sandy Herrold
> 
> prompts snagged from 25_moments

_1\. scars_

"There's a healer in there with her, boy," Aba told Aaron a little gruffly - Darvish suspected she was fairly worried herself, but, being Aba, was too stubborn to admit it. "You think you can do something she can't?"

"But why can't I - we go in there?" Aaron glanced at Darvish, who looked away. True, he was probably as worried about Chandra as Aaron was, but ... Aba was right. Men had no business attending a birth, and given what he'd read about the process, Darvish felt almost grateful for that tradition.

"She'll be fine, Aaron," he said, putting a hand on Aaron's shoulder.

Aba nodded, giving Darvish a grateful look.

"She's strong and healthy," Darvish continued.

Aaron met his eyes. "So was my mother," he said.

_2\. vacation_

Darvish watched the changes in Aaron as they traveled northwards, uncertain whether or not he liked them. Chandra, when he'd shared his concerns with her, had waved them away, saying that he was imagining things and, when pressed to give an example, Darvish had had to admit he couldn't really name anything concrete. Still, he felt sure the changes were there, even if he couldn't quite put his finger on them.

It was logical enough, he supposed; the north was Aaron's home, where he'd been born and raised. Chandra'd said she wanted to see it, and initially, Darvish had agreed. Aside from being Aaron's place of birth, it was also the place his own grandmother had come from, after all, and he was curious.

Ironically, Aaron had been the only one who hadn't wanted to make this trip. Chandra and Darvish had convinced him in the end, two to one, and yet now that they were there, getting closer to the Moon's Fair with every day that passed, Darvish was beginning to regret his choice, while Aaron seemed to object to their destination less and less.

Darvish sighed. Perhaps it did feel like coming home to Aaron, no matter the circumstances under which he'd left, or how long ago that had been. Still, Darvish knew that there was only one place Aaron belonged now, and it wasn't in the north. (He just hoped Aaron remembered it, too - remembered that peaceful as things might seem now, it was only the moon's truce that kept the country from being a warzone, where it wasn't safe for three travelers to ride unescorted.)

_3\. jealousy_

"Just how many of your ex-lovers are we going to run into?" Chandra asked a little tartly.

Darvish looked a little uncomfortable - Aaron, Chandra noticed, looked amused.

"I was popular," Darvish defended himself. "It's not my fault so many people wanted to sleep with me."

"You could have said 'no' more often," Aaron pointed out.

Chandra hmph'ed. "Did you say 'no' even once?" she asked.

Darvish's flush was answer enough.

_4\. life or death_

Watching Darvish dodge a blade and raising his own, Aaron found himself wishing he was armed for the first time since he'd taken his oath to never again use violence, or lift arms against another human - might did not make right, and he knew he'd never become like his father had been, yet sometimes, a weapon raised in self-defense or in defense of a friend might make the difference between life and death, and when that life was Darvish's (or Chandra's) and the death was that of some stranger, the choice wasn't a hard one to make - although at the moment, it was one Aaron _couldn't_ make, as he was only a spectator, unable to influence the outcome either way.

_5\. music_

The music and the dance were as Chandra remembered them from their last visit to the Shoi - wild, exhilarating and making her face flush even though she was just sitting to the side, watching, not whirling around, swept away by the rhythm, one with the music like Darvish and Aaron. Right now, she doubted if either of them was even aware of her presence; their world had shrunk to the dance and each other, and as appealing a sight as they presented, Chandra couldn't help feeling just the tiniest bit left out.

"You could join them, you know," the old Shoi-woman sitting next to her said.

"I thought it was a dance for two people," Chandra replied, hesitantly - Wizards of the Nine probably didn't dance, at least not this kind of dancing.

The old woman chuckled. "It's a Shoi dance, my dear. It's for as many people as want to take part in it."

_6\. kiss_

"The er grooms may now kiss the bride," pronounced the priest of the Second - Darvish noticed with amusement that he looked distinctly relieved for the somewhat unusual wedding-ceremony to be over at last - although, of course, the festivities were only just beginning.

A full nineday of parties, food and not drinking, as Chandra had put her foot down and forbade the serving of anything other than fruitjuice and goat's milk to the wedding-guests. Darvish grinned, still remembering _that_ particular argument. Doubtless, the story would be told and retold for a considerable time to come. Darvish could live with that, he thought - being the reason for a wedding where all the guests had left sober was a far better thing to be known for than being a notorious drunk and useless human being.

("But what of the bloodline?" Kesin had asked Lord Balin when he'd been informed of the upcoming wedding and his minor role in the ceremony as one of the bride's next of kin. "If Chandra gets a child, how can anyone know who the father is?"

"We'll both be fathers to any child Chandra may bear," Aaron had said simply, before Lord Balin could come up with a slightly more diplomatic answer - Kesin had seemed to have a considerable amount of trouble already with the revelation that Aaron was Darvish's lover, and at Aaron's statement now, his eyes bulged and his face turned a bright shade of red.)

_7\. sated_

"The latest rumor has it that the only reason you married both of us is that you're a sexual deviant, who can't be satisfied with having just one person in his bed," Aaron reported and Darvish was relieved to hear his tone of voice was amused, rather than angry or accusing, because the Nine Above knew that at one point, Darvish's life had indeed consisted of doing little more than getting drunk and finding people to sleep with.

"And does the rumor say why you and I agreed to marry a guy like that?" Chandra inquired.

"No, they seem to have overlooked that detail." Aaron grinned.

"Obviously, it's because the two of you are sexual deviants, too," Darvish said.

"Are we, now?" Chandra looked at Aaron who raised one eyebrow. "Well. I'd guess a sexual deviant would have no problem whatsoever with skipping a boring session of the Royal Council when she could be spending some time with her two husbands instead."

Aaron's other eyebrow flew up as well, although he seemed a whole lot less averse to Chandra's suggestion than Darvish would have expected. "I thought you said you wanted to take your position as the heir more seriously."

Chandra sighed. "Council sessions are just so _boring_ ," she complained. "Nothing ever gets done, and everyone just talks and talks."

"Is that so?" Darvish drawled, and Aaron glanced at him in surprise. "Well, then, _obviously_ , you don't have the right kind of people on your Council."

Chandra frowned. "But my father has appointed them - dozens of years ago, in most cases. I can't replace them just because I think they're boring."

"You can, actually," Aaron said.

"Don't say they're 'boring'," Darvish suggested. "Be tactful. Say they deserve a break. They'll have grandsons and nephews - say you want to give those a chance to gather some political experience as well. Present it as a temporal thing, if they protest too loudly. Find some people you can rely on. You'll need them later - nobody can rule a country all by himself, or herself."

"All of a sudden, I find myself eager to attend a Council-session." Chandra grinned.

"Try to look royal and aloof," Aaron advised.

"Like a Wizard of the Nine," Darvish said, "instead of a sexual deviant who's just decided to stage a minor revolution. Things like that tend to upset people."

_8\. hunger_

Chandra glowered at the blackened crisps and tried to convince herself that whatever had gone wrong wasn't her fault - their suppers for the past nineday had consisted of cold porridge, cold (and barely edible) vegetables and cold, tough strips of meat that probably wouldn't have improved in the slightest if they'd been cooked, and while Chandra understood why it wasn't a good idea to make a fire while traveling through a country at war, the thought of yet another cold supper had been too much to bear.

Since spells could be used to set things on fire, she'd reasoned, it should also be possible to use a spell to heat something. Warm porridge was still porridge, but at least it was warm.

Probably, she'd miscalculated the amount of heat that was necessary to turn cold porridge into warm porridge - an easy enough mistake to make, and one she'd be able to correct quickly enough if she'd been back home, in her tower, with as much cold porridge to experiment on as she wanted.

"I wasn't really looking forwards to porridge anyway," Darvish said.

"We should be reaching Rajeet's brother's keep soon anyway." Aaron shrugged. "They'll have plenty of food there - an evening without supper won't do us any harm."

"Thank you," Chandra said, feeling miserable.

"Whatever for?"

_9\. drunk_

"We've heard of you, Darvish Shayrif Hakim," said Joshua, giving Darvish a look that set his teeth on edge - Chandra, at least, had met with a certain respect, being a Wizard, whereas Aaron had been given an odd look Darvish still wasn't sure how to interpret. Not disapproving, exactly, yet not very welcoming either, for all that it had been years since Aaron had last seen his cousin.

"Indeed?" Joshua was alone, the men he was commanding off to wander the Moon's Fair, looking for whatever it was Kebric shopped for. If it came to a fight, Darvish rather thought he could take him, and make a clean get-away before anyone'd think to give chase. There was the truce to consider, of course - Aaron hadn't mentioned how (or even if) it was enforced, but Darvish reasoned he'd deal with that when it came up.

"Many things, bad and good." Joshua nodded gravely.

"And?" They burnt men who slept with other men around here, Darvish suddenly remembered. If Joshua were to accuse him of having done so in public, would the truce even do him any good? Or would he simply face not only Joshua but every warrior within hearing? All of a sudden, the odds didn't look so good anymore.

"They say you can hold your liquor like no other man." Joshua's eyes seemed to be mocking him, and for one moment, the gruff _kar kleysh_ who'd agreed to play their guide for reasons unknown reminded Darvish of Aaron. They were cousins, of course, but thus far, Darvish had never seen any great resemblance between the two of them; Aaron was aloof, but in possession of a dry sense of humor, whereas Joshua had merely seemed cold and distant.

"I don't drink anymore," Darvish said curtly, wondering if Joshua knew that, too.

"Then you must be very thirsty." Joshua's expression might have been amused.

Darvish sighed. "What do you want?"

"For you to leave," Joshua replied calmly. "All three of you. This is not a place for you, even during the truce. Already, people are talking - and most of them will not seek you out for your drinking ability. There is no place for people like my cousin among us, and while this may change in time, that time has not yet come. I have a friend I should like to accompany you on your way back south."

"A friend?" Darvish asked, voice heavy with irony.

Joshua's face was expressionless. "It would be best if you left tonight."

_10\. moment of clarity_

"You expect me to _choose_?" Chandra asked incredulously, noticing that neither Darvish nor Aaron looked particularly surprised, which presumably meant they'd known about her father's decision before the three of them had come here and, for reasons of their own, had chosen not to tell her. " _Why_?"

"Chandra ... " Her father looked distressed, probably at the prospect of her making a scene. He was right to worry, Chandra thought, if he honestly thought she was going to let him do this to her.

"People are already talking about you wanting to live in a tower, instead of in the palace," Aaron said softly. "They feel like you're not really one of them."

"Well, I'm - " Chandra started, then halted. She'd told her father she was going to be his heir, and to help him rule.

"A Wizard of the Nine, yes, we all know that," Darvish said.

"If you first flaunt tradition by taking an extra husband and then withdraw from public life to go live in a tower and study magic, people won't accept you as my heir, Chandra," her father told her. "They won't come to love and respect you the way they did your mother. You'll be living in a world of your own, and you'll make for a poor ruler - not because you're incapable but because to you, the country will never be more than a duty and a distraction."

"Do you really think you'd be happy living in a tower, shut away from all the world?" Aaron asked.

"You and Dar ... " Well, yes, Chandra supposed they'd come visit sometimes. They wouldn't actually _live_ in the tower with her, of course; there would be nothing for them to do, and she'd be busy studying, anyway. They'd visit and tell her about their adventures, in which she hadn't played any part, because Wizards of the Nine didn't go traipsing through the world.

Chandra sighed and glowered at Aaron. He grinned back at her.

"I'll have the wedding," she said.

Her father, at least, unlike Aaron and Darvish, had the grace not to look smug. 

 


End file.
